Added sugar vs natural sugar: everything you need to know

By Kimberly Gillan| 2 years ago

No points for guessing which is all natural sugar and which is all added sugar

Why added sugars are the ones you need to watch out for.

The “quit sugar” movement can be confusing. On the one hand it seems certain the sweet stuff is wreaking havoc on our bodies and playing a major role in the obesity crisis. But on the other hand, fruit and milk contain sugar — yet we’re told to eat more of them.

So what's the actual deal?

The fact is, there are heaps of different types of sugars, but the ones you want to be most wary of are “added sugars”, which are also known as “free sugars”.

As the name would suggest, these are sweeteners — such as glucose and fructose — that don't naturally occur in a whole food but are added to improve the taste or texture.

Added sugar is typically harvested from sugar cane and sugar beet, and while it contains kilojoules for energy, it’s pretty void of other nutrients.

"Essentially added sugars are added to food products to make them sweeter or make them taste better," accredited practicing dietitian Lauren McGuckin from All About Balance told Coach.

Making a commitment to avoid sugar altogether is probably misguided, according to McGuckin, who says it's generally just the added sugars we want to go light on.

"These days we are getting obsessed with nutrients rather than food, but when we eat food we don't just eat single nutrients," she points out.

"When we are looking at sugars, we have to look at the food they come from."

"Fructose is the sugar in fruit, but fruit also contains vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre. Lactose is the sugar you get from dairy products, which are also a fantastic source of calcium, protein, vitamins and minerals."

There are more than 60 different types of added sugars, including sucrose, honey, cane juice, corn syrup, molasses and maltose dextrose. (Added sugar can appear on food ingredients lists under dozens of names.)

"[Added sugars like] rice malt syrup and agave syrup are being touted as being healthier, but they are still sugar – it's an energy-dense, non-nutritive product that we add to things," McGuckin says.

While McGuckin says cake and chocolate are obvious examples of foods high in added sugars, you also need to be careful of added sugars in products you would assume are healthy.

"If sugars are added to healthier products like yoghurt or mueslis then they are adding unnecessary calories or kilojoules, which are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, which is going to start throwing people's blood sugar out of whack," McGuckin points out.

"The key word is 'added' – what is it being added and why does it need to be there? If it's something like a yoghurt, can you find a product that doesn't have added sugars?"

The World Health Organisation recommends we aim to limit our consumption of free sugars to six teaspoons per day.

But McGuckin says that's difficult for people to measure given we don't tend to consume it by the measured teaspoon.

"Our Australian Dietary Guidelines don't put a maximal limit on added sugar – it's just an overall blanket recommendation to limit it and stick mostly to foods with naturally occurring sugars because of the other nutritional benefits," she explains.

"If someone wants to completely avoid added sugar and they have the ability to do so, power to them – but there is also nothing wrong with enjoying added sugars on occasion.

“Just from a daily perspective we want people to limit them as much as they possibly can."